Since 7 July 2026, 12:00 noon, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), the ministry responsible for ZIM, is temporarily no longer accepting new grant applications. Important: the freeze is temporary and the programme itself is not being abolished, but when application intake resumes is currently completely open. According to the official announcement, all application and project types are explicitly affected:
In addition, the deadline setting for the second phase of innovation networks is temporarily suspended. So not only do no new applications come in, the timeline for ongoing network funding also shifts.
The reason: since the fourth quarter of 2025, demand has risen sharply. With limited budget funds, the BMWE feels compelled to throttle application intake in order to steer the available funds deliberately.
You can read the official announcement directly at the BMWE ZIM portal and at the ZIM project management agency AiF Projekt GmbH.
Good news for everyone already in the process:
How long the freeze will last is open. The BMWE is aiming to resume applications in early 2027, depending on how much budget the 2027 federal budget provides. There is no firm commitment.
This is exactly where the decisive point lies. The ZIM freeze is a symptom of a structural problem with classic grant programmes: they depend on a limited funding pot. Once it is empty, that's it, no matter how good your project is.
The Forschungszulage works differently. It is a statutory tax entitlement. If your project meets the criteria, you get the funding, with no competition for scarce budgets and no application freeze. There is no pot that can run dry.
And the terms in 2026 are better than ever:
For most R&D-driven companies, the Forschungszulage is therefore not a last resort but the better baseline funding, right now.
| Criterion | ZIM | Forschungszulage |
|---|---|---|
| Type of funding | Project-based grant | Tax incentive |
| Timing of funding | Ex-ante, before the project starts | Ex-post, also up to 4 years retroactively |
| Funding rate | Up to 45% for young companies, 55% for cooperations | 25%, 35% for SMEs |
| Maximum funding | Up to approx. €550,000 per individual project | Up to €4.2 million per year (SMEs, from 2026) |
| Approval process | Competitive, limited budget | Statutory entitlement, no application freeze |
| Bureaucracy / effort | High (interim reports, milestones) | Moderate |
| Eligible projects | Innovative projects, often market-oriented | Incremental research too |
| Target group | SMEs and start-ups with R&D experience | All companies |
| Cooperation required? | Often cooperative projects | In-house possible |
You can find more detail in our post ZIM vs. Forschungszulage.
The biggest difference in practice: with ZIM, ongoing reporting is the pain point, and without an approved budget nothing happens anyway. With the Forschungszulage you describe retroactively what actually happened. In return, the quality of the BSFZ application becomes the decisive factor.
Want to know how much Forschungszulage is in it for you? In a free initial call we look at your project and tell you honestly what is possible.
Stay the course. Applications already submitted and approvals are not affected.
Check whether the Forschungszulage covers your project. In most cases it does, and you can even go in retroactively for the past years.
The ZIM freeze is the ideal moment to set up the Forschungszulage now. Briefly explained: the Forschungszulage is a tax incentive for research and development to which every company with a tax domicile in Germany has a statutory entitlement. Unlike ZIM, there is no limited funding pot and no competition for budgets, whoever meets the criteria gets the funding, retroactively for up to four years. That is exactly why it is not affected by the current application freeze.
Important to know: the Forschungszulage and ZIM can generally be combined, just not for the same costs in the same project. So if you have relied on ZIM so far, you lose nothing and gain a predictable, budget-independent funding source with the Forschungszulage.
Since 7 July 2026, 12:00 noon, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) is no longer accepting new applications for the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM). The freeze applies to all project types and to project outlines as well.
No. Applications already submitted continue to be processed and approved, provided the conditions are met and funds are available. Ongoing payouts for already approved projects also continue as normal. Applications under international bilateral and multilateral calls are exempt from the freeze.
That is open. The BMWE is aiming to resume applications in early 2027, depending on how much budget the 2027 federal budget provides. There is no firm commitment.
For most companies doing R&D, the Forschungszulage. It is a statutory tax entitlement, it does not depend on a limited funding pot and it has no application freeze. In 2026 the rate is 25 percent, 35 percent for SMEs, the assessment base is up to 12 million euros per year, and it can be claimed retroactively for up to four years.
In principle yes, just not for the same costs in the same project. So if you have relied on ZIM so far, you lose nothing and gain a predictable, budget-independent funding source with the Forschungszulage.
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